I tend to wander around NYC with my gear quite often; recently, I found myself in Times Square. I don’t know why I ended up there, but there I was, so I started recording. Over the last 20 years, Times Square has been transformed from a gritty and tough urban center to a tourist center that more closely resembles Disneyland. In the last few years, Mayor Mike has glitzed up the area even further by installing pedestrian plazas on sections of Broadway from 42nd – 47th streets. I planted myself in one of the plazas and began recording:

I love hearing the different accents of people talking and the way the distant traffic reflects off the tall surrounding buildings. The pedestrian plaza creates a space where traffic is kept at a bay, but is still within and “ears” reach.

Recording Geek Note: Rig consists of a pair of DPA 4060s mounted stealthily in a hat. It was all tracked to a Sony PCM-M10, with Sound Devices MP-2 as a front end.

I’ve been going through some old files lately, and I came across a recording that I had forgotten about. Back in 2008, I was living in Minneapolis, MN where it was incredibly easy to get out to nature in a few hours. After being away for three months, I wanted to take the missus somewhere special when I returned, and believe it or not, Wisconsin was that place. We drove out to a small resort on a lake that was incredibly quiet and just what we needed. Now, as we know, it wouldn’t be a vacation if I didn’t take my gear.

I set up at the edge of the lake just when the sun was going down; the above recording is just a few minutes from that night. I love how the density of the insect sounds just suddenly drops off and gives way to some distant bird calls. It’s amazing how a recording can just transport you back in time . . . I can almost smell the place and feel the giant mosquitos.

Recording Geek Note: Rig consists of Schoeps CMC5’s setup for MS, with the MK4 as the mid. It was all tracked to a Sound Devices 744T at 24/96